US should listen to international calls for ceasefire in Gaza

This is the time for the US to consider advice from international society to press Israel to stop the war and mass killing of civilians in the Gaza Strip. After most people around the world marched in their capital cities demanding to stop the genocide war, voicing the cessation of the occupation in Palestine land, and calling for the US not to use double standards when it comes to the enforcement of rules-based order, there is no more time for the US to pretend to be dumb and deaf, and continue to prolong and abuse humanity.

The call to cease the war, in fact, is not about political partiality but it is all with respect to fondness of conscience. That is why the leaders of the states across the world are also raising this concern. After the League of Arab States in concert with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemned the Israel invasion of Gaza and mentioned it as "war crimes and barbaric, brutal, and inhuman massacres", recently, we heard a similar tone from the BRICS leaders. BRICS countries shared the same concerns about the situation in Gaza, as South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said: "The collective punishment of Palestinian civilians through the unlawful use of force by Israel is a war crime."

To date, there are 14.400 casualties in Gaza - most of them civilians. The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas will never benefit either side; rather it will only merely complicate the pathway to peace. War is only a means that serves to perpetuate the pain of humanity and even to cause a big cost on the side for the 'pyrrhic victory'.

War today, virtually only ignites resentment in the future; thus, war is not a perpetuated solution, it is an embryo of the next disaster of humanity. The children who grow up in war conditions and whose families are the casualties in today's war will remember it as a humiliation, and therefore this vicious cycle never ends without the willingness to stop the war as soon as possible and step forward to a peaceful agreement.

For that reason, in fact, the US should halt the war if the US really had the genuine intention to commit to the common value of humanity. It is not merely based on the Western perspective of humanity but also on the bedrock of universal humanity without bias perspective and with determination to enforce fairness.

Admittedly, thus far, the US is the only country that can stop the war in Gaza as Israeli warfare arms are shipped and backed by it. It does not yet include how much money the US flows to support the Israeli defense system.

The US only gave sanctions to the countries that were not siding with them in terms of high politics and defended tirelessly the wrong side as long as the country was on its side.

Therefore, the key to a peaceful world requires that the US learns - again - about the basic value of democracy where the people's voices are significant in navigating the government. People's voices are paramount in a democratic society and the US has long experienced it and even serves as the preacher about it anywhere and anytime.

Now, international societies, both the people and the state leader, demand two crucial requisitions for him. The first is to stop the war right now, which the US and its allies have the power to do so; the second is, the US must force Israel to accept the two-state solution, which is the basic problem of war.

It is true that the root problem of the Israel-Hamas conflict is the continuation of occupation and expansion of the settlement as well as how Israel was established itself in the land of Palestine, as Mearsheimer said.

So to deal with the very basic Israel-Palestine issue is by removing the occupation. There is, no other way around it. In order for the US to realize those aspirations, however, the US must turn its stance in advance to be a good listener and not advance its ego. The US must stop invariably seeing world politics through the unjust lens of Western perspective. The US should listen to the voice of international society, not only to the voice of Western society. Enough is enough.

Ahmad Nurcholis is a PhD Student of Shandong University. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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